Shaping the future of higher education

In his keynote address at the College Board colloquium, Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun outlined how American institutions can meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Higher edu­ca­tion in America is at a water­shed moment in his­tory, in which U.S. insti­tu­tions have a crit­ical role to play in shaping the future and meeting new chal­lenges, North­eastern Uni­ver­sity Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun said in his keynote address on Sat­urday at the Col­lege Board Col­lo­quium in California.

“The stakes are high and the oppor­tu­nity is great,” Aoun told an audi­ence of 240 edu­ca­tors and admin­is­tra­tors from col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties nation­wide and school dis­trict super­in­ten­dents from the West Coast.

The annual event brings edu­ca­tion leaders together for serious thinking and spir­ited dia­logue con­cerning crit­ical issues facing higher edu­ca­tion. This year’s theme was “Embracing the ‘New Normal’ ” — and atten­dees praised Aoun for chal­lenging edu­ca­tors to ques­tion his­tor­ical assump­tions of higher edu­ca­tion and operate from a global per­spec­tive by searching for pro­gres­sive models around the world.

As Amer­ican insti­tu­tions face growing chal­lenges that include less gov­ern­ment funding, more fed­eral reg­u­la­tion and increasing com­pe­ti­tion abroad, Aoun said the U.S. is also in the midst of an “explo­sion of knowl­edge” that is gen­er­ating new busi­nesses and indus­tries and shifting the needs of students.

To address this changing land­scape, North­eastern has estab­lished a system of regional cam­puses across the country. Aligning Northeastern’s strengths with the demands of each region’s economy, the cam­puses will offer flex­ible, “hybrid” master’s degree pro­grams that inte­grate both online and class­room learning, a global view and cus­tomiz­able curricula.

Aoun said the U.S. higher edu­ca­tion system has thrived with an open, mer­i­to­cratic, inno­v­a­tive and risk-​​taking model, as Amer­ican uni­ver­si­ties entered into a social com­pact to edu­cate stu­dents who go on to improve society through research and other avenues. But he said the chal­lenges of the 21st cen­tury are forcing insti­tu­tions to revisit this com­pact, in which col­leges look beyond the tra­di­tional bound­aries of place, and engage pri­vate and public part­ners to achieve these goals.

“This is the way Amer­ican higher edu­ca­tion needs to move for­ward in order to sur­vive and to thrive,” Aoun said. The incor­po­ra­tion of expe­ri­en­tial learning — a hall­mark of Northeastern’s edu­ca­tion model — is also becoming increas­ingly impor­tant to stu­dents by adding valu­able, real-​​world experience.

Speaking of the glob­al­iza­tion of higher edu­ca­tion and the increasing demand for higher edu­ca­tion world­wide, Aoun cau­tioned against the “gold-​​rush men­tality” that often drives over­seas campus expan­sion by U.S. insti­tu­tions. Aoun quoted an edu­ca­tion advisor to the Indian prime min­ister who said the Amer­ican model of higher edu­ca­tion, “is not scal­able, not afford­able, not sus­tain­able and not adaptable.”

The col­lo­quium con­tinued on Sunday, as Aoun par­tic­i­pated in a con­ver­sa­tion about major trends affecting the direc­tion of higher edu­ca­tion and the chal­lenges faced by indi­vidual insti­tu­tions. The dis­cus­sion included the pres­i­dents of the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­fornia, Spellman Col­lege and Columbus State Com­mu­nity Col­lege, as well as the Col­lege Board’s vice pres­i­dent for higher edu­ca­tion rela­tion­ship development.

The Col­lege Board is a non­profit orga­ni­za­tion con­nects annu­ally with more than 7 mil­lion stu­dents and their par­ents, 23,000 high schools and 3,800 col­leges to pro­vide a path for stu­dents to col­lege opportunities.

About the Writer

Greg St. Martin is the senior editor for news@Northeastern. He joined Northeastern in March 2010 after working at a Boston newspaper for six years. Outside the office, he enjoys playing basketball, basking in the glory of finding great parking spots, and listening to the comic genius of Steven Wright. Follow on Twitter: @gstmartinNU

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